The Patio

A few shots of the patio where we do most of our entertaining and socializing. The new benches are a nice addition!

Our lot is basically 120’ X 240’ with the back half or almost 2/3 on a 30 degree upward slope and basically unusable but is in effect, our own wildlife sanctuary. As well, there is a 100’ long driveway down to the “Old Island Highway”. This driveway actually extends across the highway to the waterfront, giving us ownership of 16’ of waterfront. This is really good for nothing but it prevents any development across the highway which would block any view we have.

The slope at the back is home to an eagle nest and a pair of deer. These are the deer who used to feast on Norma’s flower garden before the electric fence went up. I don’t know where they go to eat now but they have had to change restaurants! There are also some raccoons and a wild cat. At least there was a wild cat but I think he tried to take on one of the raccoons one night and I have not seen him since. This suits me fine because he sprayed the inside of my workshop earlier this year and I had to buy some very expensive deodorizer to make the shop inhabitable again.

When we bought the place in 1989 there were two very small lots on either side of our driveway. One was vacant and the other had a very low profile house on it. Our view was unobstructed. The empty lot was for sale but they wanted more than we could afford after having just bought our house and I really did not think it was large enough to build a house on anyway. The other house was owned by a local pilot as a rental property. The owners put it on the market many years ago and I made an offer that was not accepted. I was not too concerned about this one anyway because it was quite a bit below our house and did not affect the view at all.

Well. over the years the empty lot sold and a house went up.  They found a way around the city height restriction by bringing in a bunch of fill before measuring the height and our view suffered. The other lot and house also sold and the owners did the same thing! What was a full front window view is now interrupted by two houses in front. We still have a view, but not like we had.